Trump says files deleted by Jan 6 committee ‘exonerated me completely’

Former President Donald Trump on Monday said the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, "would not have existed" if then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., accepted his "offer" for security in the days leading up, and that the more than 100 files deleted by Democrats "exonerated" him "completely." 

Trump was reacting to an exclusive Fox News Digital report revealing that the former House Select Committee on Jan. 6, led by Democrats, deleted 117 encrypted files from its probe just days before Republicans took over the majority of the House of Representatives.

HOUSE JAN. 6 COMMITTEE DELETED MORE THAN 100 ENCRYPTED FILES DAYS BEFORE GOP TOOK MAJORITY: SOURCES

"The whole Committee of Political Operatives, Thugs, and Misfits was a SCAM set up to injure and defeat your Favorite President, Donald J. Trump," Trump posted on his Truth Social, reacting to the revelations. "They’ve deleted and destroyed almost everything, because it exonerated me completely, and was very bad for Crazy Nancy Pelosi and other Fascists and Communists."

A scene from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in 2021. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

"It showed that Pelosi was in charge of Security at the Capitol, and she rejected my offer of 10,000 Soldiers or National Guard Troops prior to January 6th," Trump continued. "Had she accepted, January 6th would not have existed!"

Trump has claimed since 2021 that days before the Capitol riot, he suggested deploying the National Guard to the Capitol due to intelligence the government was receiving regarding activities on Jan. 6.  Trump has said Pelosi had authority over the Capitol, and he suggested National Guard troops deploy "three days in advance." Trump said "she turned it down."

"The mayor of D.C. gave us a letter saying that she turns it down. OK, we have it. Nancy Pelosi also was asked, and she turned it down. The police commissioner of Capitol police …" Trump said in an NBC interview last year. "Wait, a minute," he pressed on, "Capitol police said that he wanted it, and Nancy Pelosi wouldn't accept it. She’s responsible for Jan. 6."

"Nancy Pelosi’s responsible, and the Jan. 6 Committee refused to interview her," he said.

Pelosi's office replied at the time, saying: "As our office has said before, the former president’s allegations are completely made up," a representative for Pelosi told Fox News Digital.

"As numerous independent fact-checkers have confirmed, Speaker Pelosi did not plan her own assassination," the spokesperson added.

Rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

The House Administration Committee's Oversight Subcommittee is leading an investigation into Jan. 6, 2021, led by Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga. The panel is investigating the security failures on that day, as well as the "actions" of the former select committee investigating the Capitol riot.

Loudermilk last week told Fox News Digital his investigation had entered a "new phase" with renewed support from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who has committed additional resources to the panel’s investigation.

Sources familiar with Loudermilk’s investigation told Fox News Digital that, per House rules, the former select committee, which was chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., was required to turn over all documents from its investigation to the new, GOP-led panel, after Republicans secured the majority of the House of Representatives following the 2022 midterm elections.

Sources told Fox News Digital that Thompson had told Loudermilk that the select committee would turn over four terabytes of archived data, but that the new committee only received approximately two terabytes of data.

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Fox News Digital has learned that Loudermilk’s committee hired a digital forensics team to scrape hard drives to determine what information they were not given.

Former President Donald Trump speaking during a campaign event in Rochester, New Hampshire on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a letter Loudermilk sent to Thompson, requesting access to recovered digital files by his forensic team.

The forensics team, according to sources familiar with their search, determined that 117 files were both deleted and encrypted. Sources said those files were deleted on Jan. 1, 2023 – just days before Thompson’s team was required to transfer the data to the new committee.

Fox News Digital has learned the forensics team has recovered all 117 deleted and encrypted files. Now, Loudermilk is demanding answers and passwords to access the data. 

"As you acknowledged in your July 7, 2023 letter, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Select Committee) did not archive all Committee records as required by House Rules," Loudermilk wrote. "You wrote that you sent specific transcribed interviews and depositions to the White House and Department of Homeland Security but did not archive them with the Clerk of the House."

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Loudermilk added that Thompson also "claimed that you turned over 4-terabytes of digital files, but the hard drives archived by the Select Committee with the Clerk of the House contain less than 3- terabytes of data."

Loudermilk explained that after a forensic analysis of the data and archived hard drives, he was able to recover "numerous digital records from hard drives archived by the Select Committee."

"One recovered file disclosed the identity of an individual whose testimony was not archived by the Select Committee," Loudermilk wrote. "Further, we found that most of the recovered files are password-protected, preventing us from determining what they contain."

Chairman Bennie Thompson and Rep. Liz Cheney take their seats for the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Capitol hearing on Oct. 13, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Loudermilk asked that Thompson provide him "a list of passwords for all password-protected files created by the Select Committee" so that his committee can "access these files and ensure they are properly archived."

Meanwhile, Loudermilk also penned letters to White House general counsel and the general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, requesting "unedited and unredacted transcripts" of White House and DHS testimony to the former select committee. 

Loudermilk's committee knows the transcripts of these interviews exist, but said they were not turned over by the Thompson-led committee. 

Loudermilk demanded the White House and DHS comply with his request by Jan. 24.

"It’s obvious that Pelosi’s Select Committee went to great lengths to prevent Americans from seeing certain documents produced in their investigation. It also appears that Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney intended to obstruct our Subcommittee by failing to preserve critical information and videos as required by House rules," Loudermilk told Fox News Digital. 

"The American people deserve to know the full truth, and Speaker Johnson has empowered me to use all tools necessary to recover these documents to get the truth, and I will."

Johnson endorsed the investigation, telling Fox News Digital that "the January 6 Committee was a partisan exercise determined to prove a political narrative regardless of the facts." 

"Rather than delivering transparency and focusing on security failures, the Committee obfuscated facts and hid evidence," Johnson told Fox News Digital. "I applaud Chairman Loudermilk and fully support the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight's efforts to present clarity, not theater, to the American people about exactly what occurred that day." 

Brooke Singman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and FOX Business.